Hundreds of colleges and universities have capitalized on demographic trends in the new century to establish a burgeoning sector of higher education known as Hispanic-serving institutions.

That’s what the federal government calls schools where at least a quarter of undergraduates are Hispanic. There were 229 of these schools, or HSIs, in 2000, according to the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities. By fall 2016, the total had more than doubled, to 492. It is projected to grow further.

Data from the association show that many Hispanic students gravitate to colleges near home.

Sixty-three of the HSIs are in the predominantly Hispanic commonwealth of Puerto Rico. Of the rest, 211 are public two-year colleges and dozens more are regional public universities in California, Texas and other states with significant Hispanic populations. At California State University at Los Angeles, the Hispanic share of undergraduate enrollment was 64 percent. At the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, it was 91 percent.

Antonio Flores, president and chief executive of the association, said regional colleges are responding to the surge of Hispanic students in elementary and secondary schools. Some universities, he said, have become particularly skilled at partnerships with K-12 school systems and community colleges.

He cited California State University at San Bernardino, which works closely with San Bernardino Valley College. At both schools, the Hispanic share of students exceeds 60 percent. The teamwork, Flores said, “has paid off, big time.”

For the most part, Hispanic enrollment growth has been slower at more competitive and prestigious schools. Several campuses of the University of California are an exception. However, other nationally ranked schools in recent years have become what experts call “emerging HSIs” -- meaning that their Hispanic share is at least 15 percent but less than 25 percent of undergraduate enrollment.

These trends are seen in all parts of the country. “It affects institutions everywhere,” said Deborah A. Santiago, chief executive of the nonprofit advocacy group Excelencia in Education. In the last several years, she said, many schools have embraced what it means to be an HSI or emerging HSI. Now, she said, the challenge is to get more Hispanic students to finish a degree. “If you don’t enroll them, you can’t graduate them,” she said. “But it’s not sufficient to enroll them.”

Below are tables illuminating total undergraduate and Hispanic enrollment at nationally ranked colleges and universities. The enrollment figures show full-time equivalent undergraduates at each school as of fall 2016, and the Hispanic shares. The numbers are from the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, through its analysis of federal education data. The rankings, noted in parentheses, are from U.S. News & World Report.

National universities (U.S. News rank)

Enrollment 2016

Hispanic %

Princeton University (1)

5,310

10%

Harvard University (2)

8,237

11

Columbia University (3)

7,777

13

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (3)

4,495

15

University of Chicago (3)

5,980

11

Yale University (3)

5,470

12

Stanford University (7)

7,034

16

University of Pennsylvania (8)

10,958

10

Duke University (8)

6,590

8

Johns Hopkins University (10)

5,786

13

Northwestern University (10)

8,492

12

California Institute of Technology (12)

979

12

Dartmouth College (12)

4,286

9

Brown University (14)

6,707

11

Vanderbilt University (14)

6,838

9

Rice University (16)

3,858

14

Cornell University (16)

14,560

12

University of Notre Dame (18)

8,520

11

University of California at Los Angeles (19)

30,557

22

Washington University in St. Louis (19)

7,166

7

Emory University (21)

6,772

9

UC-Berkeley (22)

28,593

14

University of Southern California (22)

18,430

14

Georgetown University (22)

7,212

9

Carnegie Mellon University (25)

6,153

8

University of Virginia (25)

15,821

6

Wake Forest University (27)

4,922

7

Tufts University (27)

5,464

7

University of Michigan (27)

28,378

5

UC-Santa Barbara (30)

21,350

26

New York University (30)

25,378

13

University of North Carolina (30)

18,133

8

UC-Irvine (33)

27,067

26

University of Rochester (33)

6,255

7

University of Florida (35)

32,443

21

Brandeis University (35)

3,598

8

Georgia Institute of Technology (35)

14,491

7

UC-Davis (38)

28,893

20

Boston College (38)

9,735

10

College of William & Mary (38)

6,236

9

UC-San Diego (41)

27,685

17

Boston University (42)

17,145

11

Case Western Reserve University (42)

5,054

6

Northeastern University (44)

13,455

7

Tulane University (44)

7,052

6

Pepperdine University (46)

3,348

14

University of Illinois (46)

33,102

10

University of Georgia (46)

26,983

6

University of Texas (49)

38,418

23

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (49)

6,253

9

Villanova University (49)

6,690

7

University of Wisconsin (49)

29,538

5

University of Miami (53)

10,411

22

Syracuse University (53)

14,847

10

Lehigh University (53)

5,033

9

Rutgers University (56)

34,887

13

Purdue University (56)

30,034

5

Ohio State University (56)

43,464

4

Southern Methodist University (59)

6,384

11

Worcester Polytechnic Institute (59)

4,337

9

University of Washington (59)

29,410

8

Pennsylvania State University (59)

40,631

6

University of Connecticut (63)

18,925

10

University of Maryland (63)

27,206

10

George Washington University (63)

10,852

9

Texas A&M University (66)

47,369

23

Clark University (66)

2,249

7

Brigham Young University (66)

29,178

6

Clemson University (66)

18,172

3

UC-Santa Cruz (70)

16,692

30

Florida State University (70)

30,755

20

Fordham University (70)

8,957

14

Stevens Institute of Technology (70)

3,111

10

University of Massachusetts (70)

22,232

6

University of Pittsburgh (70)

18,550

3

Virginia Tech (76)

25,446

6

University of Minnesota (76)

31,706

4

Baylor University (78)

14,203

15

American University (78)

7,684

12

Texas Christian University (80)

8,719

12

Stony Brook University (80)

16,329

12

State U. of New York-Binghamton (80)

13,365

11

Colorado School of Mines (80)

4,482

7

North Carolina State University (80)

22,112

5

Yeshiva University (80)

2,662

<1

UC-Riverside (85)

19,647

40

University of San Diego (85)

5,582

19

Michigan State University (85)

36,917

4

Loyola University Chicago (89)

10,663

15

Marquette University (89)

8,078

11

University of Delaware (89)

18,348

8

University of Iowa (89)

22,324

8

University at Buffalo (89)

19,465

7

Indiana University (89)

34,902

5

Howard University (89)

5,702

1

University of San Francisco (96)

6,566

20

Illinois Institute of Technology (96)

2,803

16

University of Colorado (96)

26,649

11

University of Denver (96)

5,594

10

University of Vermont (96)

10,577

4

Miami University of Ohio (96)

16,655

4

Among national liberal arts colleges, those with the highest shares of Hispanic students tend to be in California. They include Pomona, Claremont McKenna, Occidental, Pitzer and Harvey Mudd colleges.